Establish A Tourist Harassment Hotline

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Gleaner, Published: Monday | April 15, 20132 Comments

By Garth A. Rattray
A while back, my wife and I went on an excursion in Grand Cayman. We saw a curious
sign, handwritten on a plastic container with a few United States dollar bills in the bottom
of it.
The sign read 'TIPS'. It was an acronym for 'Tourist Input Prevents Starvation'. We thought that
it was innovative and funny. However, now, as Jamaica continues its consumerist orgy, even
though we cannot seem to find diverse and viable ways of producing and exporting, tourism our major source of foreign exchange - is our lifeline to survival. TIPS has become a truism for
Jamaica.
Sometime last year, we were dining in a shopping centre in Ocho Rios, a veritable tourist
mecca. We observed a woman behaving like a raving lunatic because she felt that a worker in a
shop disrespected her in some way.
Her interminable and animated ranting made the passing tourists steer clear of that large
shopping centre. That ignorant 'tegereg' caused significant loss of income for that shopping
centre and besmirched the image of our little island. She, like those who harass tourists, just
don't get how vital this industry is.
HARASSMENT FREE-FOR-ALL
It is noteworthy that, on my rare trips to the north coast, I always see beggars and touts and
pimps and drug pushers interacting with tourists as they try to enjoy our island. The hustlers
hang out at the bus stops and taxi stands. They cruise the streets, the beaches and even wade
out into the water to peddle illegal drugs. They boldly walk right up on to the restaurants that
abut the beaches and offer drugs to dining visitors, and they glower at those of us who dare to
send a silent message of reprimand with looks of disdain.
Aside from crime, asinine shenanigans and bad behaviour, tourist harassment causes us to lose
badly needed foreign-exchange income. A recent article on the subject by Tyrone Reid, senior
staff reporter for The Gleaner, highlighted its severity. In spite of our efforts to squelch the
problem, in 2010, 31 per cent, and in 2011, 29 per cent, of our approximately 3.1 million visitors
complained that they were harassed.

Ostensibly, the drug pushers believe that tourists come here for the reefer and not for the
beautiful beaches provided by our reefs. About half of those harassed complained that they
were approached to buy illegal drugs. Public education and security initiatives have been the
tools by which Jamaica has reduced tourist harassment.
Tourist interaction programme
As far as increased security is concerned, an article by Janet Silvera, senior Gleaner writer,
spoke to the Jamaica Constabulary Force's visitor security strategy. The piece explained that,
since 2010, after graduation from the Police Academy, all policemen and women are exposed to
one week of the Tourism Product Development Company's Team Jamaica programme.
Additionally, the officer in charge of the Tourism Liaison Unit, Superintendent Karina PowellHood, revealed in the article that there was significant interaction with stakeholders in the tourist
industry and high-volume deployment of police personnel in the resort areas. This strategy has
achieved a crime rate of less than one per cent against tourists.
In spite of our best efforts, there will always be those who forget or selfishly chose to ignore
TIPS. Instead, they do the opposite when they SPIT (stupidly poison international tourism) with
their harassment and criminality.
Since the police cannot be ubiquitous, and since tourism is so vital to our survival, we need a
tourist harassment hotline. It should be an easy-to-remember, three-digit number, posted in as
many places as possible, so that citizens and visitors can call to report any tourist harassment
that they see. That way, the police can quickly intervene and stamp out this embarrassing and
counterproductive activity.
Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to
columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.